Ocean Protect’s StormFilter is a stormwater treatment asset comprised of one or more structures that house rechargeable, media-filled cartridges that trap particulates and adsorb pollutants from stormwater runoff such as total suspended solids, hydrocarbons, nutrients, metals, and other common pollutants. To date, over 27,000 StormFilter systems have been installed by Ocean Protect in Australia – and stop an average of approximately 900kg of pollution entering Australian waterways every day.

Renew Solutions recently undertook flow testing of ‘real world’ StormFilter installations to determine if pollutant accumulation in these devices had caused any significant reduction in flows, and subsequently inform recommended maintenance actions – specifically, how often the StormFilter media may need replacement due to reduced flow conveyance through the media (as a result of pollution accumulation).  

Despite pollution accumulation observed in all tested StormFilter cartridges, the flow testing demonstrated that this accumulation would cause zero reduction in flow through the StormFilter cartridges. Furthermore, the test reaffirmed the StormFilter cartridge replacement frequency of 1-3 years in the field under real-world conditions and across a range of land uses.

If you have any questions about this research (or would like a full copy of the report), don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.